Ukrainian Teen Awaits Adoption By Harrisburg Family Amid Russian Invasion

HARRISBURG, N.C. – A Harrisburg family is staying in close touch with a teenager they’re trying to adopt from Ukraine.

She’s stuck there after the adoption process stalled due to the pandemic and now the Russian invasion.

“She just wanted to have a family that loved her and took care of her, and when we met her, we knew right away that was it,” explains Harrisburg resident Mark Cukro.

The martial arts instructor first met 14-year-old Natasha five years ago.

“She’s sweet. A little bubbly, a little sassy,” he says.

She came to the U.S., staying with Cukro, his wife, and their two kids, as part of a foster parent program for children from a Ukrainian orphanage.

“She would spend summers with us and Christmas for several weeks, and then she would go back to Ukraine,” Cukro says.

He and his family decided to adopt Natasha, but then COVID changed everything.

“And then the people that were responsible for signing the documents weren’t at work, so it slowed down the process,” he says.

Natasha last visited the Charlotte area in 2019, but she hasn’t been able to return from Ukraine since then.

“A few days ago, I got a phone call messenger from her, and I think I heard a phrase I think no parent wants to hear, ‘Dad I woke up to bombs, and I’m scared,'” Cukro says.

The family is doing their best to communicate with Natasha each day.

She lives in an orphanage about an hour outside of Kyiv and spends nights in a bomb shelter.

“She was panicked when we first spoke with her, she was terrified, she’s 14 years old, she sees artillery, she sees the sky light up, and she hears the noises, and the house and the ground shake,” Cukro says.

Now they’re just praying for her continued safety and hoping the adoption pulls through.

“As soon as possible, we’re going to have another daughter here, if at all possible, if there’s a way, we’re going to make it happen,” he says.